Former New Orleans Saints quarterback Derek Carr is returning to football, although he made clear that an NFL comeback is not part of the plan.
UCLA announced on August 10 that Carr is joining first-year head coach Bob Chesney’s staff as a special advisor to the head coach. The 11-year NFL veteran will help the Bruins with offensive game-planning while also working with their quarterbacks.
Carr also announced the move alongside his brother, former NFL quarterback David Carr, on their “Home Grown” podcast. There, the former Saints starter offered considerably more detail about his next chapter — including the fact that NFL teams attempted to lure him out of retirement.
“I’m going to be coaching at UCLA and helping the Bruins,” Carr said.
Derek Carr Says 6 NFL Teams Approached Him About Playing
Carr’s move into coaching comes after there was at least some legitimate interest in getting him back onto an NFL field.
Asked directly whether he was finished playing, Carr said six teams had contacted him with opportunities to return. Two of those possibilities were intriguing, he said, but neither ultimately came together.
Carr then removed any ambiguity about his immediate plans.
“I’m not playing,” Carr said, later adding, “I am coaching.”
That is notable given the speculation surrounding Carr since his abrupt retirement from the Saints in May 2025.
Carr stepped away after doctors found a labral tear and significant degenerative changes in his right shoulder while he was preparing for the 2025 season. Rather than undergo a procedure that could have cost him most or all of that season without guaranteeing he would return at his previous level, Carr retired after 11 NFL seasons.
He finished his two seasons in New Orleans with a 14-13 record as a starter.
The NFL apparently remained interested. Carr, however, said he is enjoying life as a father and has now turned his attention toward learning the coaching profession.
Carr Explains Why He Chose UCLA Coaching Role
Carr described coaching as something that has been “in my heart,” saying he wants to pass along the knowledge he accumulated during more than a decade playing quarterback in the NFL.
UCLA offered him an unusually fitting place to begin.
Carr said he had received feelers about opportunities elsewhere in both college football and the NFL before connecting with UCLA general manager Darrick Yray and Chesney. UCLA confirmed that Yray has a previous connection to Carr, having worked at Fresno State during Carr’s college career there.
Carr emphasized that he isn’t arriving to take over UCLA’s quarterback room. Instead, he described himself as another resource for the players and coaches while he learns the profession himself.
“I’m here to listen and learn,” Carr said.
That resource comes with substantial experience. Carr accumulated 41,245 passing yards and 257 touchdown passes, earned four Pro Bowl selections and played nine seasons for the Raiders before spending his final two seasons with the Saints.
Now that experience will be used from the sideline.
UCLA opens the 2026 season at California on September 5 before hosting San Diego State at the Rose Bowl on September 12.
For anyone still waiting on Carr to make one more NFL run, though, his message was considerably more definitive: his return to football is as a coach, not a quarterback.
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